Music and Me..!

Music has always been my companion. This blog describes about my journey with it and my passion towards it.

Who doesn't get amused by Music? The God's gift which has stupendous power to soothe the minds, calm the hearts and rejuvenate the spirits.

I am an absolute no one to talk about the greatness of it but would like to share my feelings.

Fortunately, I was brought up in the traditional town of Tirupathi where, something always used to happen with regard to the classical music.

With Annamacharya Kala Mandir and Thyagaraja Mandapam well within the proximity, many times I used to go with my uncle to listen to the Kacheris(concerts) by stalwarts. Though I used to understand only bits and pieces, there was nothing which used to attract me more than cricket and Sachin. My sisters were learning the Carnatic classical music but I could do nothing more than humming along with them in a pathetic voice. 

Days passed, years rolled.. Now the time had come for the real taste of mine.  I started singing Sathya Sai bhajans, initially in my home and then everywhere. It changed me a lot. It induced in me the passion for Raagam, Bhaavam and Thaalam. The high pitches, low pitches, variations, all were fascinating me. And till date, I am singing. This was rather the turning point for my fascination towards the art of music. 

But the purpose of writing this blog was something else. I watched a movie called 'Morning Raga' and was mesmerized with the things dealt in it including the music.

Music is divine and universal. There may be different types and styles of music. The music is same but the presentation is what that differs. We had movies like Sri K Viswanath's Shankara Bharanam which enthralled people all around the world with Sri K V Mahadevan's memorable music and Sri S P Balu's resonant and overwhelmingly receptive rendition. We have also had movies like Rock On! which rocked all the urban people. But the thought of fusing these types of music and bringing it as one entity is really worth applauding. The fair point of this movie is that, it does not disappoint the expectations of the audience. It involves you to that extent that some may get tears rolling down their cheeks. 

The caption 'Meeting of the worlds' is very apt as it 'fuses' both the western and the classical music, keeping the vortex as the 'music' itself. The eccentric part of the film is fusion. You can call it an attempt to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity, village and the city, western and classical music and the young and the old. Let us see what impressed me so much.

The Morning Raga starts beautifully with the picturesque Godavari backdrop and two women performing  'Mathey Malaya' , one vocal and the other accompanying her with the violin. So, soothing start to the movie, you will get involved right from the beginning. The story grips soon after that.Both of them leave the village to perform a concert in the city and the bus meets with an accident and falls in the river in which the violinist and the vocalist's son die. From there on, the other lady (Swarnalatha) decides not to perform in a city.

Accidentally, the son of the violonist is a musician himself and his goal is to set up a western musical band. He meets Pinky, a western singer and they slowly crawl towards their goal . But, soon they realize that they are lacking something in them. Abhinay happens to meet Swarnalatha when she sings the soul stirring  'Pibare Raama Rasam' and he gets mesmerized by the way of her singing. He thinks that, this is the one which he was lacking and he becomes very stubborn that she should sing for his band. Swarnalatha always refused for this but offers to teach classical music to Pinky . The songs selection is worth a mention here. As always, they start with  'Lambodara Lakumikara', continue with the sweet  'Samaja Varagamana' and end with the song perfect for the situation  'Marugelara O Raghava'. This song comes when Pinky sees the photo of the dead Swarnalatha's son. The western beats in between these songs are awesome and amusing.  

Another twist in the movie is, Pinky happens to be the daughter of the drunk driver who causes the accident. Isn't it really the Meeting of the Worlds? Somehow, Pinky manages to remove the bridge phobia of Swarnalatha and the latter comes to perform for her 'new' son.

And, the situational perfection goes to the peak when the old woman from the village renders  'Thaye Yashoda' in front of the city crowd. She dedicates the song to her 'son' and it takes you to the world of Mahabharata and reminds us of Yashoda Krishna. Sudha Ranganathan's rendition, the violin's symphonies and Mani Sharma's music are really hair-rising and will make your body vibrate. It is a masterpiece. Always felt, Mani has the talent to give such tunes but this was really awesome. The director tried 5 music directors for this song and none could match with the present one.  It is a song which redefines music, the fusion music.

Three people from different age groups, different backgrounds, different tastes converge because of the great power, Music. And the same music made me forget the world and increased the passion in me.

I always had the respect for the arts but Morning Raga increased it exponentially. Thanks to the director, Mahesh Dattani, producer Raghavendra Rao and the music directors Mani Sharma and Amit Heri. 

I am yet to come out of the Morning Raga hangover. 

PS : A special thanks to my friend Subbu, who himself is a musician, for making all the attempts in getting the DVD of the movie.